


persistence

by miracleboysatori



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Homework, Shiratorizawa, anime marathon, really dont know what other tags to use, stubborn kouhai bonds with persistent senpai over anime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 15:45:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16370471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miracleboysatori/pseuds/miracleboysatori
Summary: When asking his fellow third-years for advice on winning over Shirabu Kenjirou, their response is usually the same: why is he so hell-bent on hanging out with someone who clearly isn’t interested in spending time with him outside of practice? The answer is pretty simple, Tendou thinks. It’s his duty as senpai to build good relationships with his kouhai and leave a lasting impression on them before he graduates at the end of the year.Well… that and he justreallywants to convert more people into anime fans.





	persistence

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Tendou Rarepair Week, day 5, prompt was 'otaku'.
> 
> TenShira.. where do I start with these two, lol. This is a ship that holds a lot of emotional and personal meaning to me, something I knew ahead of time while planning for this fanweek that I would have a very difficult time writing, for very personal reasons. Despite that, I did it, and I'm proud of myself for overcoming the mental block that I knew I'd have to face. 
> 
> I love this dynamic A Lot. I love how Tendou can see right through Shirabu, how he can break down his walls and tug at his heartstrings with a lot of work. Tendou has a lot of admiration and respect for Shirabu, and Shirabu feels the same right back I think, even if he may not loudly admit it. The potential for friendship and even more between these two is honestly really interesting and something I think about fairly often.
> 
> Shirabu is a difficult character for me to write, because I don't relate to him much at all, unlike Tendou (who I relate to on way too many levels). That being said, I hope I handled him okay! ;; He's a tricky boy with a very specific and amazing personality and set of traits that's tough for me to get a hold on, but practice is always good!
> 
> This is un-beta'd, I didn't even do a full read-through yet. I wanted to get this posted ASAP. I tend to miss things, but I will read this over in a few days and try to locate any mistakes I missed! That being said, I apologize in advance for any mistakes!! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! ♡

“It doesn’t matter how much you pester me, the answer is still no, Tendou-san.”

The answer isn’t surprising, but it _is_ disappointing. That and the fact that he _still_ hasn’t taken up calling his senpai by his given name.

Tendou, currently leaning most of his body weight into the locker next to Shirabu’s, pouts for a moment, hoping to pull at least a tiny bit of sympathy out of his kouhai. 

Equally as unsurprising, it doesn’t work.

“Fine~” he trills, but stays rooted in place, watching Shirabu neatly fold his practice shirt and shorts and slip them into his gym bag. Why does he bother being so tidy if he’s just gonna throw the clothes in the laundry anyway? Tendou doesn’t know. There’s a lot he still doesn’t know about Shirabu. “But I’m not kidding, Kenjirou, this character is _so_ you, you _have_ to see.”

“Even if that were true,” Shirabu shuts his locker, finally meeting Tendou’s stare with a clearly uninterested expression, “I’m not interested in sitting through hours of anime. You’re better off asking Goshiki to join you.”

Goshiki’s head pops out from behind his locker door, eyes wide and curious as he pauses pulling off his shirt. Tendou waves a hand at him, then returns his attention to the real challenge.

“I’ve had Tsutomu over, hell, I’ve had _Taichi_ over, even though he just fell asleep and wouldn’t wake up until I gave him food. It’s your turn now!”

“I’m really not interested,” Shirabu slings his bag across his shoulder, respectfully bows, and makes a move for the locker room entrance.

Bummer. 

Tendou stays rooted in place, slightly slouching with disappointment. A hand collides with his shoulder and he turns, meeting Semi’s stare.

“Might wanna give it a rest, Satori,” his best friend suggests, expression a mix of amusement and pity, “Not everyone wants to bond over anime.”

Maybe not. But even so, Tendou’s determination knows zero bounds.

**\-----**

So the question remains: how can Tendou convince his stubborn kouhai to actually come over and watch anime with him? He could lure him with his favorite snack, but as of right now, he hasn’t figured that one out. Shirabu was proving to be a tough nut to crack, unlike a lot of Tendou’s other kouhai. Most of them practically jumped at the chance to hang out with their senpai, and even Kawanishi was easy to sway with promises of food. But Shirabu… that was a tough one.

When asking his fellow third-years for advice, their response is usually the same: why is he so hell-bent on hanging out with someone who clearly isn’t interested in spending time with him outside of practice? The answer is pretty simple, Tendou thinks. It’s his duty as senpai to build good relationships with his kouhai and leave a lasting impression on them before he graduates at the end of the year.

Well… that and he just _really_ wants to convert more people into anime fans.

So maybe Shirabu isn’t the best candidate for this, but he’s the only one Tendou hasn’t had meaningful bonding time with, and that’s a real shame! After all, Shirabu studies _way_ too much, he’s too uptight, and Tendou wants to introduce him to a little something called ‘ignoring your responsibilities and instead diving head-first into fake worlds and universes with super cool and interesting characters’.

Course, when he tells Semi this, his roommate just laughs and shakes his head, saying “Good luck.”

Even more of a reason to succeed; Tendou wants to prove to everyone that he’s capable of taking down Shirabu. In a nice way, of course.

So Tendou keeps pestering before and after practice, though gently, respectfully, and cautiously since he doesn’t want to get yelled at, hit, or disrespect his kouhai in any way. He hasn’t been the target of it yet, but he knows and has seen what Shirabu’s like when he’s angry, and he definitely doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of that.

And then finally… he’s got it; the perfect way to ask his kouhai to hang out with him.

“Kenjirouuuu~” after changing into his regular clothing, Tendou skips over to Shirabu’s locker, eyes bright with anticipation, “Guess what?”

His kouhai doesn’t look up as he zips his bag, “Yes, Tendou-san?”

Damn, no guesses? And _still_ no ‘Satori’? Ah well.

“I have a little favor to ask, since you like homework so much,” Tendou grins, leaning down until he’s eye-level with Shirabu, “Math class? Big struggle right now. But I know _you_ take the advanced class, so I wondered if you’d wanna help me out with an assignment?”

Shirabu lifts his head, looking a bit surprised for a second. He must have expected Tendou to ask for an anime marathon. Again.

Tendou could have asked for that, but truthfully, he actually _does_ need help with math. So he’s not lying. Course, what Shirabu _doesn’t_ know is that Tendou still plans on wiggling in that series he’s been so intent on Shirabu seeing. Somehow, some way, he’ll make it happen.

“What is the assignment covering?” 

“Limits, I think it was?” Tendou lowers his voice, suddenly slightly self-conscious that he’s having trouble with math at a level that he’s supposed to understand, “S’weird, Can’t really wrap my head around it.”

“Limits, okay,” Shirabu nods once, straightens the hem of his shirt and says the words Tendou’s been waiting for, “I’m free tonight. Did you want me to come by your dorm and help?”

Tendou feels like leaping for joy, but controls himself, only letting the action through his arms as he waves them at his side, “Yeah! Sure! If you aren’t busy, that’d be super!”

Without another word, Shirabu slings his bag over his shoulder and stares expectantly at Tendou. Excitement risking boiling over, Tendou leads him out of the locker room and towards the dorm building, an extra pep in his step as he inwardly congratulates himself.

**\-----**

Okay, so maybe he should have cleaned.

When the pair arrive at Tendou’s shared dorm with Semi, Tendou takes the same path through piles of clothes and random objects as he always does, plopping carelessly on his bed. Shirabu remains rooted at the door, looking around with a blank expression.

At least Tendou can blame half of the mess on Semi.

“Eita never cleans, sorry,” Tendou jokes, rummaging through his school bag and pulling out a folded piece of paper. He unfolds it, smoothing it out against his thigh.

“I assume you realize that this is your room too?” Shirabu counters, but Tendou just laughs.That probably wasn’t the reaction he’d hoped for, judging by Shirabu’s unamused stare as he carefully walks towards Tendou’s bed.

“Here’s the pesky assignment,” Tendou hands the still slightly disheveled paper, shifts into a cross-legged position, “you probably know all about this stuff, huh?”

“A bit, yes,” Shirabu eyes the paper, attempting to straighten it out even more with his taped-up fingers, “It’s not that complicated.”

“For you maybe,” Tendou smiles, watching Shirabu take a seat on the bed as well.

His posture is predictably perfect, a weird contrast next to Tendou’s slouched position. Even the pencil Shirabu pulls out from his clean bag is pristine and perfectly sharpened, the textbook he grabs to rest Tendou’s homework on looks brand new despite the year being a third of the way over. Tendou feels slightly guilty for bringing such a balanced person into his messy and visually random room. 

He just needs a little dose of fun, that’s all.

“You’re smart, Tendou-san, you just have to apply yourself.”

Well, that’s a fair observation.

“Kinda hard to do that if the subject matter is _boring_ ,” Tendou draws out the last word.

Shirabu doesn’t say anything in response to this, just reads through the assignment for another minute. Tendou watches him closely, wondering if he’s just going to end up doing the entire thing for him instead of making him apply himself. That’d be the dream.

But, of course, it’s not reality.

Shirabu hands the paper, still resting on his textbook, over to Tendou and scoots only a bit closer, “We’ll start with the first question.”

He begins to explain how these limits work, and how to work through the problems. Oddly enough, hearing the material from someone other than his teacher is somewhat helpful. It might be easier if Shirabu was more expressive, a bit more visual with his explanations, but eventually Tendou starts to catch on. By the time they’ve reached the final question, Tendou is able to work through the entire thing on his own, without Shirabu having to correct him. It’s a pretty good feeling.

“See?” Shirabu takes back his pencil and textbook, “it’s not that complicated.”

“Kenjirou, I think you might be _magic_ ,” Tendou grins as he looks down at his completed assignment, “I think that’s the quickest I’ve picked up a math problem!”

“All it takes it practice,” Shirabu shrugs, returning his things to bag and making a move to get up, “If you need help again, let me know.”

“Wait!” Tendou gently tugs at Shirabu’s sleeve, “Where ya’ going? That only took half an hour!”

“I assumed I would go back to my room, if we’re done with your homework.”

Tendou smirks, wiggles in place, and as soon as he does, Shirabu’s expression goes neutral again. He sighs.

“So you _did_ have ulterior motives.”

“Wha -- !” Tendou’s eyes go wide, “No! Kenjirou, I really did need help, and you saved my ass! But we’re done now! And since you’re here…” he trails off, grabs a DVD case from his nightstand and waves it around, “... can we…?”

“Do I even need to guess what that is?” Despite sounding as uninterested as always, Shirabu settles back against the bed.

“Why don’t I play it and we find out, yeah?” Tendou reaches for his laptop, setting in on his bed and quickly shoving the DVD into the CD drive.

“Might as well,” Shirabu mumbles.

**\-----**

Three incredibly intense and riveting hours later, the pair have worked through half a season of a series that Tendou has been dying to get Shirabu to watch. After a rather emotional ending scene involving an argument between two characters and a big cliffhanger, the ending theme begins and Tendou nervously looks over at Shirabu, who’d shifted closer to him since around episode two or three.

“Sooo?” Tendou tries, voice cracking after so long of not speaking, “What’d ya’ think?”

Shirabu blinks, watching the ending theme play, “Better than I expected, I admit.”

Inside his head, Tendou is doing cartwheels and holding a huge trophy, but as he sits next to Shirabu he just beams at him, “Really?! You liked it?”

“I tolerated it,” Shirabu mutters, playing with the tape on his fingers. But Tendou can see right through him.

He _totally_ loved it.

“Wanna watch the rest with me sometime?” Tendou asks, hoping he’ll get a ‘fine’ at the very least.

Shirabu nods, “I’d like to see more of that character that you said is like me. I’m not sure I understand the connection you’re making.”

“Oh!” Tendou bristles with excitement. The chance to talk about a character he loves so much is presenting itself? And it’s being presented by _Shirabu Kenjirou_?! It really is his lucky day, “Well, obviously you don’t look like him. He’s got blue hair and he’s super tall,” Tendou snickers when Shirabu shoots him a side-eye at that height comment, “but! He’s really dedicated, y’know? And he worked hard for his place as the king’s right-hand man! People doubted him, but he didn’t care, he saw what he wanted and he grabbed it anyway.”

Shirabu is silently staring at him, still playing with the tape on his fingers.

Uh-oh, did Tendou make a false judgement? Surely not; Shirabu’s a hard worker, and he always reaches his goals, even if he _is_ short!

“I guess I was watching the wrong character,” Shirabu admits, “I expected you to make a connection with the very angry one.”

“Eh?!” tendou cocks his head, raises an eyebrow, “Nah! Yeah, you’re angry and got a real temper,” there’s that scary side-eye again, “but that’s not important! When I look at you I don’t just see angry short guy, I see super devoted and hard-working. That’s who Kenjirou is to me!”

Is that a blush on Shirabu’s cheeks? Tendou tells himself it is, even if he could be wrong.

“Why are you so focused on my height?” Shirabu asks, narrowing his eyes.

Tendou laughs, loudly and without holding back, “Kenjirou, I said that’s _not_ all I see! But for the record, it is pretty funny.”

Shirabu reaches over, gently shoving Tendou’s knee, “I can’t control my height.”

“Nope,” Tendou agrees, “but you _can_ control the other cooler parts of you, like how committed you are. And I think that’s pretty neat, Kenjirou. You’re cool!”

Shirabu must be stumped by that statement, because he remains silent, but Tendou can still see the slight blush on his cheeks.

“So you’ll come by and finish it with me sometime?” Tendou leans closer, raising both eyebrows, “I have another math assignment due in a couple days that I could use some help with.”

He doesn’t give a verbal confirmation as far as the anime goes, but he doesn’t say no either. Instead he slips off Tendou’s bed, slings his bag over his shoulder and clears his throat.

“If you need help again, I’d be happy to help, Tendou-san.”

“‘Kay, I’ll let ya’ know,” Tendou smiles, “Also, what’s it gonna take to get you to call me Satori?”

“I don’t know,” Shirabu shrugs, “I’m not sure yet.”

 _Yet_. A word that implies something hasn’t ended. Tendou feels a lot more confident now.

“That’s alright, Kenjirou,” Tendou leans back against his bed, “have a good night, see ya’ tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Shirabu confirms, heading towards the door and nearly stumbling over a few random objects on the floor, “Good night.”

The door closes carefully behind him as he leaves. And as he leaves, unless his eyes deceived him (and they rarely do), Tendou totally caught Shirabu smiling, just a little. 

Tendou keeps his eyes locked on the door for a moment, a satisfied smile of his own spreading across his face.

Tendou: 1  
Failure to bond with his stubborn kouhai: 0

**Author's Note:**

> (If it's not obvious, I had no idea what series or character Tendou was even referring to,, I'm not very knowledgeable about anime/manga series outside of Haikyuu and a select few others LOL) 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to reach out to me on twitter, I'd be honored if you wanted to talk to me! (esp about tendou, or shiratorizawa in general!) ♡
> 
> art twitter: [tendouaf](http://www.twitter.com/tendouaf)  
> twitter: [ushitentxt](http://www.twitter.com/ushitentxt) (I'm mostly active here right now! Please come talk to me~)  
> tumblr: [tendou-satori](http://www.tendou-satori.tumblr.com)  
> art blog: [kat-doodles](http://www.kat-doodles.tumblr.com)


End file.
